Ensuring patient safety and healthcare quality is critical and should be a key focus of everyone in healthcare practice. This course provides healthcare practitioners and others with an introduction to the knowledge and skills needed to lead patient safety and quality improvement initiatives at the micro and macro levels. Participants will explore the foundations of health care quality and the science underlying patient safety and quality improvement, design and select effective health care measures, analyze patient safety problems and processes using tools such as human factors analysis, apply systematic approaches including the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) model to address quality improvement challenges, and learn strategies to lead a culture of change. The course takes a world view of patient safety and quality, linking participants to research and resources from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Joint Commission and other international organizations. Course highlights include personal stories, lessons learned from other industries and interviews with the President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and other leaders in quality movement.
Offered By
Leading Healthcare Quality and Safety
The George Washington UniversityAbout this Course
Offered by
The George Washington University
In the heart of our nation’s capital with additional programs in Virginia, the George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the District of Columbia. The university offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study, as well as degree programs in nursing, medicine, public health, law, engineering, education, business and international affairs. Each year, GW enrolls a diverse population of undergraduate, graduate and professional students from across the country and around the world.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Establishing a Framework for Quality & Safety
Welcome to Module 1! During this module, you'll learn about the current state of healthcare quality and safety in the US and globally, and the essential characteristics and expected outcomes of safe, high-quality healthcare. We'll also discuss the core elements of quality improvement, and the data needed to assess the safety and quality of care. Finally, we'll examine lessons learned from other industries & disciplines that can be applied to healthcare improvement efforts. We're looking forward to getting started!
Safety as a First Principle of Quality
Welcome to Module 2! This week, we examine the criticality of patient safety to healthcare and the sciences underlying patient safety. You'll learn a model for systems engineering and a process for anticipating and addressing medical errors. You'll also learn about the importance of a just culture approach to medical error prevention.
Measures & Measurement
Welcome to Module 3! This week we delve into measures and measurement. You'll learn to apply the basic Donebedian framework for measuring quality in healthcare in terms of structure, process and outcomes. We'll discuss the key attributes of useful (good) healthcare measures and the core concepts of validity and reliability. You'll also learn the most critical elements to consider in choosing and applying a measure or measures to measurement in a given health care setting or situation, and the key characteristics of a measurement process that must be present to provide information that is a valid and useful reflection of quality of care.
Quality and Safety Improvement Science
Welcome to Module 4! This week you'll learn how to identify quality improvement opportunities and apply the PDSA cycle to address them. We'll also discuss the importance and benefits of team-based approaches to quality improvement, and the value of Health Information Technologies (HIT) and other innovations in improving health care quality.
Reviews
- 5 stars79.01%
- 4 stars18.24%
- 3 stars1.89%
- 2 stars0.56%
- 1 star0.28%
TOP REVIEWS FROM LEADING HEALTHCARE QUALITY AND SAFETY
I enjoyed the course. I am more motivated to get things right with regards to patient safety and the quality of healthservices. The tutors talked so convincingly and clearly. I will take more courses
Excellent online course and thank you for the excellent speakers. I really learned a lot throughout this course. Which I will take with me and apply on our unit to improve our quality and safety.
thank you for you effort, being that simple and clear means that much work has been done...
It was my starting point to enroll in quality management society :)
This course is really useful to give an overview of quality improvement specifically in health care. The 2 tutors are so passionate in providing both knowledge and inspiring students. Thank you!
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